A netbook program was discussed at today’s staff meeting. Year 1 of the program would involve providing each teacher in the school (grades 9 – 12) with a netbook so they could have a year to experiment. It was emphasized that a netbook doesn’t have the same capabilities as a full laptop, so teachers should get familiar with the limitations and possibilities afforded by the netbooks. Several colleagues raised an excellent question – what would I or my students use it for? I try not to be too much of a fan of implementing technology just because it’s new and shiny and cool, although I have on occasion fallen victim to BSOS. I know of some of the uses for my classes, but when teachers in other subject areas are asking this I don’t have any answers to give them. … Continue reading »

I’ll explain the title for this post in a moment. First, I want to point out that if anyone would contend (as I sometimes do) that twitter and microblogging have wiped out the engaged discourse that was once the hallmark of good blogging, I direct you to read through Jim Groom’s writing, and the ensuing comments, on Networked Study. If you follow that link and get so engaged in the conversation that you don’t come back here, I won’t be offended. Now back to the explanation of the title. About 18 years ago, I was finishing up my first teaching contract. The principal made sure he had some time to sit down with me at the end of the year to see how my first year had gone. Something he said stuck with me all this time. “Rob, teaching is … Continue reading »

I’m early into my Easter Break from school right now so I’ve been getting back in touch with some of my online world – a bit of twitter and taking time to read some of the info in my Google Reader account. The last month has been crazy busy with family stuff so between that and work I’ve had almost no time to have some virtual me time. I think the time away has been good for letting me think about some things from a different perspective. Whenever I head back to the twitter-stream, I am amazed and overwhelmed by the number of amazing tools there are for teachers to use. More than I can possibly keep track of, partially because of the rapid pace of development and widespread familiarity with them and partially because my attention span is becoming … Continue reading »